The Harburg lottery was a dubious lottery scheme established in 1720 in the port of Harburg in the Electorate of Hanover. At that time, the Electorate of Hanover was ruled in personal union with Great Britain, as the Prince-Elector of Hanover had become King of Great Britain in 1714. A charter granted on 30 November 1720 by George I of Great Britain as Elector granted the Harburg Company commercial privileges in Hanover, including the right to hold a lottery at Harburg, on condition that they undertook to improve the port of Harburg. The titular head of the company was the king's grandson, Prince Frederick but the driving force behind it was John Barrington, the British MP for Berwick and a prominent Presbyterian Dissenter, who was given the post of sub-Governor.